warrenr's Profile
Beer Table, Park Slope
just went for the first time last night and loved it. very cozy, but not cramped feeling. i had cantillon gueze on tap, the first time i've ever seen it in a keg. it was $11 for a large wine glass. i love this stuff. the bottle versus keg are different, but i can't say one is better than the other. my wife had oskar blues gordon for about $6 a pint. even better than the canned version, super fresh hop aroma. and my friend had a kellerbier that was $8. i'd never had this style before, good but not too exciting. the cask beer ( chelsea stout) was unfortunately gone before we got there. the charcuterie plate ($16) had some really good stuff on it. cheese's from neal's yard and fra'mani salumi among other things.
Desert Island booze
hopefully the island isn't too hot, a nice temperate bermuda climate would be nice.
i'm not a big mixer so here's my picks:
grateaud essence des borderies cognac
the oldest bottle of domaine boignieres armagnac i can find
michel couvreur very sherried pale single malt scotch
chartreuse vep green (so i live forever!)
del maguey tobala mezcal
and assuming the island is full of wild boar, lots of underberg bitters to stave off indigestion
The Best Cognac
i just tried the full line today with the distributor. i thought they were all very well blended and well priced for the quality. the vsop and xo are a little sweet for my personal preference, but still much drier and more elegant than anything from the big houses in a comparable price range. the family reserve and vielle grande champagne are outstanding examples of very mature cognac, very light and dry and subtly complex with a hint of rancio.
i don't think older is better with cognac though. if something is distilled correctly and put into good wood, it doesn't need a lot of aging. i've been drinking pasquet coeur de grande champagne lately. it's a blend of 5-10 year old brandies and just explodes with fruit on the nose and palate.
What was your New Year's Eve champagne?
i had egly ouriet v.p. extra brut and krug grand brut. both great but the egly was more interesting. new year's day had a bottle of billecart salmon brut with lunch.
buy your friend a dink?
lovely idea. sorry i can't be there, go get drunk by yourself.
Cherry Brandy ("Heering")
my grandmother used to give it to me as a nightcap when i slept over her house when i was very young. i guess it knocked me out. i still remember the taste clearly even though i haven't had it since then.
Port Ellen - differences between bottles?
provenance is a label douglas laing uses for whiskies that they feel aren't quite good enough (or sometimes old enough or strong enough) for their old malt cask label. the last provenance port ellen i had was really good and priced well, but that was years ago. i say go for the best priced cask strength whisky. cask strength is always better. well, the whisky won't necessarily be better, but trust me, cask strength is better.
Macallan Amber - how is it?
it's not in new york yet. if it's not here in november, i imagine they'll wait until next year to launch it.
$200-300 gift bottle of scotch
highland park bicentenary has been off the shelves for several years in new york. where can i get some?! great whisky. highland park thirty is also highly recommendable, but the price is ridiculous at almost $400. i think talisker 25 is better than the 30, but they're both excellent. i've never had a bad port ellen and they are getting very scarce these days.
for something more in the style of glendronach, i really love old glenlivet and glen grant. look for something bottled by duncan taylor, signatory, or gordon and macphail. they are very reputable whisky merchants with amazing stocks of old malts, often better than the distillery's own bottlings.
Lucid Absinthe
no, it says lucid contains an acceptable level of thujone. the acceptable level in the usa is no detectable amount.
Whisky with a taste of iodine
my vote goes for caol ila. although less well known than some, it's in widely available in the usa now. never call it an iodine taste to a distiller, they hate that description! (even though it fits)
Need $200+ gift cognac recommendations
my first choice these days would be fillioux reserve familiale which should sell for around 180-190. second would be audry memorial, maybe costing a little less than the fillioux. audry also produces an older blend called exception which is about 300 and unbelievably good, but really hard to find. dudognon and giraud also make fantastic stuff.
the taste preferences in cognac are between the sweetened, flavored stuff, and pure, unadulterated brandy. the ones i mentioned are the latter type. if your friend likes the sweetened stuff, these might be too dry and austere for him. if that is the case get him hennessy paradis, which is also great in its own way.
Pinot Grigio vs. Riesling with Allergies
riesling usually has a hefty dose of sulfites added to it throughout the winemaking process to minimize oxidation and bacterial spoilage. but your symptoms sound more like a histamine reaction than a sulfite sensitivity, which is usually manifest as respiratory irritation. riesling usually has less alcohol than pinot grigio, so it's not an alcohol allergy. maybe pinot grigio is ok because they are usually so dilute. try a pinot grigio made with better quality grapes, like an alsatian pinot gris from a decent producer. if that bothers you, then you'll know to stick to over-cropped, dilute wines.
Violet Liqueur
rothman and winter creme de violette is available in the u.s. now. it's imported by haus alpenz.
What's your latest wheat beer discovery?
the 1805 berliner weisse is fantastic. quite sour, kind of like a less intense geuze lambic. as for regular bavarian wheat beer my favorite is schneider weisse. pinkus is good too. the schneider-brooklyner was too over the top for me, too much alcohol and the hops were overpowering. but it's good to try, very unique.
When Wine actually does turn to vinegar...
it's pretty rare for a wine to turn to vinegar on its own. it usually needs a starter introduced to it. it's probably just bad.
Wax seaals
don't try to take the wax off!
two easy ways i learned the hard way:
if it has a resealable cork, cut around the bottom of the lip with a butter knife.
if it requires a corkscrew, just put the corkscrew through the wax.
Take your pick
how is blended a bad thing? i've heard many others express this opinion and wonder why you would think that.
i've tasted hundreds and hundreds of whiskies over the past decade and think that blue label is a really wonderful scotch. is it worth the price? that's up to you. good old whiskies are getting scarcer and more expensive these days, so i don't think it's too outrageous, but there are still better values in scotch.
as for the evan williams, i haven't tried that one yet. i've had several other bourbons of that age and to my palate, they have spent too long in wood. bourbon matures much more quickly than scotch as it is aged in new oak barrels and subject to very extreme variations of temperature every year, causing the whiskey to absorb the oak very quickly. every once in a while there is a batch that can achieve a great age and still remain balanced, but it's pretty rare. most of my favorite bourbons are between 6 and 15 years old.
if you go to a good bar, you should be able to find these and try them before you buy. the best way to decide!
Italian liqueurs
i've seen tremontis mirto around, but it's hard to find. try winesearcher.com
bourbon making
tuthilltown spirits in gardiner, ny recently became the first legal distiller of bourbon in this state since prohibition. it's a very small operation run by just a couple of people. they sell an unaged corn liquor too. the license to distill in new york is now very affordable (a few thousand dollars, it used to be tens of thousands), so even home enthusiasts can do it legally now.
Tell me about Futures
what wines did you select? i'll assume you bought bordeaux, since bordeaux is generally the only wine offered as futures by sherry-lehmann. 2005 was by all accounts a stellar vintage for bordeaux, but prices are record-breakingly high. the best way to choose them wisely is to figure out what you like and will want to drink when it's mature. that usually takes a decade or two of experience. so get tasting!
Bai Jiu
empire merchants has recently started distributing baojing bai jiu in new york, i imagine it will be in atlanta soon if it isn't already. i tried it and didn't like it, but i don't think i could tell a good bai jiu from a bad one. moutai is sold by golden eagle trading here and i think they're just local, but you could ask them if they distribute in the south.
Pastis, Ouzo...what next, minus the anise?
albanian raki is often made without anise. campari, aperol, and various amari are other drinks good on the rocks, not too sweet or strong and no mixing required!
Riesling Novice Requests Feedback
you made the right choice! german riesling is a good match for thai curry. i don't have much experience with schmitt sohne, but the ones i've had were not very impressive, not bad or offensive, but seemed like they were industrially produced. 2005 was a very good vintage for most of germany, so it might be better than what i've tried. for good quality inexpensive rieslings look for kabinetts and qbas from zilliken, dr loosen, karl erbes, kurt darting, selbach, von hovel, or if selection is limited where you are, even blue nun was passable the last time i had it.
What is the deal with Stella?
the new schneider-brooklyner hopfen-weisse claims to be the first dry- hopped beer made in germany. the idea of dry-hopping still hasn't occured to most german brewers!
Recipe Recommendation to pair with Vosne Romanee
i wouldn't be surprised if that wine was completely shut down at this point. did the person who told you it was ready have it recently? the 02's were very good on release and show lots of promise, but the ones i've had recently (mostly beaunes) have not been drinking well right now. try ouefs en meurette when it's mature if you want something different. although game bird sounds really good.
Dry Sack Sherry - Opinions [Moved from Spirits board]
not a big fan of dry sack either. for really dry sherry i like hidalgo manzanilla and alvear fino, which is made from pedro ximenez.
anyway, sherry is wine. shouldn't this be in the wine thread?
Canton Ginger Liqueur
yep, it's back on the shelves in a fancy new defective package. the bottle is very prone to leaking, so grab it now before they recall it.
